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ArcelorMittal Named Largest Taxpayer In Liberia

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PHOTO: ArcelorMittal Liberia’s Interim Chief Executive Officer Mahamar Haidara receiving the LRA’s Gold Award for Largest Taxpayer

Press Release

BUCHANAN ̶ (December 12, 2021)-The Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) has named ArcelorMittal Liberia (AML) as Liberia’s largest taxpayer for the fiscal year 2019-2020.

ArcelorMittal Liberia Holdings Limited and ArcelorMittal Holdings A.G. was awarded the honor of biggest taxpayer Saturday, December 11, 2021, at the Inter-ministerial Complex, in Monrovia

The occasion marked the Liberia Revenue Authority’s “Taxpayers Appreciation and Awards Dinner under the theme “Moving to Billions, Increasing Tax Compliance for National Transformation”.

At a colorful taxpayers’ appreciation event hosted by the LRA in Monrovia Saturday evening, ArcelorMittal Liberia’s Interim Chief Executive Officer Mahamar Haidara was presented the LRA’s Gold Award for the company’s extraordinary performance in taxes and other payments to the Government of Liberia.

ArcelorMittal Liberia won “gold” in the category of “Highest Contributor Overall”, ranking first ahead of Monrovia Breweries and Orange Liberia Incorporated who walked away with bronze and silver honors respectively.

Announcing ArcelorMittal as the winner, Cllr Elizabeth B Diggs, Associate Legal Counsel-Assistant Commissioner for Civil Litigation, in the LRA Legal Department said, “it is truly a very great honor to be here to be announcing to you the highest contributors overall”.

She emphasized that the award given to ArcelorMittal is the highest in the Liberia Revenue Authority’s “all tax categories.”

“Our taxpayers have made us proud; they have really made the LRA stand out among all government entities and we are very proud of your support” she declared.

Her Honor, Justice Sie-A-Nyene Gyapay Yuoh presented the honor and expressed that she was pleased to be at the event.

Justice Youh encouraged all citizens and non-citizens to be compliant with tax obligations.

“We have to be compliant and for where I sit as one of those who say what the law is”, she emphasized “I will encourage all of us, me included to pay our taxes”

Receiving the Gold Award Interim CEO Haidara expressed thanks to the LRA for the recognition and dedicated the award to all taxpayers while calling for more to be done to increase revenue for the Government.

“It is an honor and a privilege to be awarded the ‘Highest Tax Contributor.’ This prize is dedicated to all taxpayers, so let’s work together next year to do more to collect more revenue for LRA to build Mama Liberia,” ArcelorMittal Liberia’s Interim Chief Executive Officer Mahamar Haidara emphasized.

This time of the year, the LRA awards taxpayers in various categories for being compliant with its guidelines relative to tax payment.

For the tax period under review, (2019 2020), AML is said to have paid a total of more than US$30 million to the Liberian Government in taxes.

The name of ArcelorMittal Liberia as the largest taxpayer in Liberia comes on the heel of the Government of Liberia and ArcelorMittal in September signing an amendment to the company’s Mineral

Development Agreement (‘MDA’) for the expansion of the Company’s mining and logistics operations in Liberia.

The agreement, which is before the Legislature, when passed into law ArcelorMittal Liberia will meaningfully ramp up production of premium iron ore, generating significant new jobs and wider economic benefits for Liberia.

It encompasses processing, rail, and port facilities – and is expected to be one of the largest mining projects in West Africa at the cost of approximately $0.8 billion, according to the company.

The expansion project AML said will include the construction of a new concentration plant and “substantial expansion of mining operations, with the first concentrate expected in late 2023, ramping up to 15 million tonnes per annum (‘mtpa’)”.

Under the agreement, the company will have a reservation for expansion for at least up to 30mt, and also invest in upgrading the rail facility for additional capacity and provide more than 2000 jobs.

As the largest foreign investor in Liberia, ArcelorMittal Liberia has invested over $1.7 billion in the country over the past 15 years.

Commenting on the agreement, President George Manneh Weah is quoted as saying: “We are delighted to have reached this important agreement with ArcelorMittal Liberia, our long-term partner in the development of the mining sector in Liberia. This agreement demonstrates to the world that Liberia welcomes foreign direct investment and is a key emerging destination for capital. It further supports the Government’s ’Pro Poor’ agenda, which is underpinned by the importance of creating jobs to lift Liberian citizens out of poverty. The further investment by ArcelorMittal in Liberia bears testament to the company’s confidence in the future of this country. We are confident that our constructive working relationship will go from strength to strength.”

ArcelorMittal is a multinational steel manufacturing corporation headquartered in Luxembourg City. It was formed in 2006 from the takeover and merger of Arcelor by Indian-owned Mittal Steel.

It is the second largest steel producer in the world, with an annual crude steel production of 78.5 million metric tonnes as of 2018. It is ranked 120th in the 2019 Fortune Global 500 ranking of the world’s largest corporations.

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